3 tons of rotten chicken meant for schools seized

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have detected nearly 3 tons of rotten chicken while those in Nghe An Province have destroyed 10,000 eggs smuggled from China and seized 1.7 tons of pig fat without clear origin.

Yesterday morning, a joint inspection team, including officers of the city’s Thu Duc Animal Quarantine Station and local traffic police, forced a suspicious van to stop for examination and discovered it was carrying about 2,940 kg of chicken, most of them were rotten.

The van’s driver, Le Huy Cuong, failed to show a quarantine certificate or any other documents related to the meat.

Cuong said he had been hired by Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, a trader in Dong Nai Province, to transport the chickens to Dong Thap Province.

As shown on several sheets of papers stuck on the cartons of goods, the delivery locations were a number of primary schools in Dong Thap’s Cao Lanh Town, the officers said.

The same day, the veterinary station in Nghe An Province’s Vinh City destroyed more than 10,000 chicken eggs seized by the provincial market management force from a van driven by Bui Huy Xuyen from Quang Tri Province.

Having no documents to prove the origin of the eggs, Xuyen confessed they had been illegally imported from China.

The station is also prepared to destroy 1.7 tons of pig fat handed over by market controllers a few days ago.

The fat was carried in a truck by Ho Dac Tho of Hue City, who had no documents related to the goods, which Tho said he had been hired to transport from Hue to Hanoi.

Veterinary officers take samples of the rotten chicken for testing (Photo: Tuoi Tre)